Smoke elevator



March 31, 1942. c. R. FALcoNE ET AL... 2,277,6 4.

SMOKE ELEVATOR Filed Nov. 3, 1939 2 .Sheets-Sheet 1* u wwn l I I I I IHJMW wr h u H I v I iwanzors Cbearlczsfldemd'fizlwzzefi uszfew 15 I o lwqev g March 31, 1942. Q FALCQNER A 2,277,694 7 SMOKE ELEVATOR Filed Nov. 3, 1959 2 Sheets- \Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 31, 1942 SMOKE ELEVATOR Charles Roderick Falconer, Milwaukee, and Gustav Hugo Koester, Wauwatosa, Wis.

Application November 3, 1939, Serial No. 302,742

11 Claims.

In the course of years of development, steam locomotives have grown in size until the consideration of clearances has become important. They have grown not only in length but also in height. Due to the necessity of passing under bridges and other structures having limited clearance space below them there has been a limit to the height to which they could be extended. The result is that in building the boilers higher it has been impossible to retain the full length of smoke stack. As a consequence, en-

ginemen have frequently been troubled by having smoke blow into the cab or into'their line of vision.

This has seemed to be a necessary evil since it was not economically possible to raise Y the bridges so as to increase the clearances and the large locomotives have been a commercial necessity. According to the present invention, however, the difiiculty has been largely overcome by providing a structure which may conveniently be called a smoke elevator. This structure is in effect a removable extension of the smoke stack which can be kept in place almost all of the time to form a smoke stack which will carry the smoke high enough to prevent its troubling the enginemen. On the rare occasions when an overhead structure of exceptionally low clearance is encountered, .the smoke elevator can be operated from the cab to drop it to a position at which it will be substantially no higher than other parts of the locomotive. This is accomplished in a manner which is exceptionally simple and which is both inexpensivein initial cost and free from danger of trouble. The stack extension is formed of two semicylindrical members which fit together into the stack but which are supported by pivoted arms and linked together sothat by operation of a single lever the stack extension may be divided and the two parts lowered.

Additional advantages and objects of theinvention will be apparent from the following description and from the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a. fragmentary elevational view of a lowered position and showing the parts on a larger scale. I

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken approximately on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary. plan view showing details of the smoke elevator'construction.

A preferred embodiment of theinvention has been shown in the drawings and will hereinafter be described all as required by section 4888 of the Revised Statutes, but the invention may take numerous forms and theappended claims are not to be limited by the disclosure except as required by the prior art.

A locomotive ll of any conventional form is provided with a fixed smoke stack l2, seen best in Figs. 1 and 2. It will be observed that this smoke stack is quite short, thus permitting the locomotive to be designed with the main or boiler portion of the locomotive to which the stack is secured extending fairly close to the height limit permitted for locomotives on account of the necessity of passing under bridges and the like. The stack 12 may be as high as permitted by the clearances on the particular road on which v the locomotive is to be used. With the illustrated form of the locomotive and stack the permanent stack [2 is not high enough to keepsmoke from being a frequent annoyance to the enginemen in the cab l3. If the smoke stack is' too low, the smoke will often obscure vision or blow into the cab.

According to the present invention this difficulty is largely overcome by providing a smoke elevator including two separable members M which can be positioned as shown in Fig. 1 to form an extension of the stack I2 whenever deo. in

sired. Normally it will be retained in this position all the time except when the train is passing under 'a low bridge which requires the lowering of the separable members l4.

Each of the separable members'is carried by a pair of plates l6 which may be welded to the members I and, as seen best in Fig. 3, are secured fast on shafts ll.- The shafts ll are in turn journaled in bearing blocks 18 which are carried by brackets H) which are preferably welded ,to the locomotive. body plates 2!. Each of the :shafts is provided with counterweights 22 which are fast on the shaft and positioned at a suitable angular position for partially counterbalancing the separable members I l. The two shafts ll! each have secured thereto one of the arms 23 and24. As seen bestin Fig. 2, the arm 23 extends generally upwardly from its shaft I! while the arm 24 extends generally downwardly from its shaft IT. The two arms are connected together by an adjustable toggle link 26 and therefore move in unison, causing the shafts H to rotate in opposite. directions. Thus, it is seen that the separable portions M are raised or lowered simultaneously. They are operated by a crank lever 21 fast on rear shaft llwhich in turn is operated by a rod or pipe 28 extending into the cab I3 and provided with a handle 29. It is evident that drawing the handle 29 rearwardly will move the separable members M to their active position shown in Fig. 1, while thrusting the handle 29 forwardly will move the separable members [4 to their lower or inactive position shown in Fig. 2. Of course, the separable por tions l4 could be operated by power, as by an air cylinder or other suitable source of power.

Although the counterweights 22 greatly facilitate the movement of the separable members l4, they do not completely balance these members. As a result it is not necessary to provide latch means for the handle 29. When the separable members are in their lowered position, their excess weight holds them down and they may rest in suitable cradles 3! which may be rigidly secured to the locomotive body plates 2!, preferably being welded and further secured by brackets 32. When the separable members I4 are in their active position, their weight has passed beyond the dead-center position andnow holds them in their active position. Because of the fact that the two members move away from the active position in approximately opposite directions, wind pressures will have substantially no eifect on them. In view of the high wind pressures produced by the high speed of the train this is an important consideration. Any net force which the wind exerts is in a direction to maintain the members I4 in the ac tive position when they are in this position, ,although this pressure is too small to interfere with the manual lowering of the members. It may also be observed that the front cradle 3| tends to form a low pressure area behind it which helps to hold the members l4 firmly seated in their lowered position.

One of the problems with respect to such a smoke elevator as that of this invention is to obtain a fairly good seal between the separable parts. In the case of the joint between the separable parts 14 this is accomplished by means of sealing and guiding plates 36 which may be welded to the front separable member 14. These plates 38 extend beyond the joint, thereby tending to seal the joint, and are slightly flared, thereby guiding the two separable members. 14 into accurate alignment. Of course, they are held fairly close to accurate alignment by their shafts II, but the guide plates 36 prevent their being out of alignment even the slight amount necessary to permit the fairly thin sheets of metal to fail to meet and-thus leave an opening between them.

Each of the separable members 14 is made rigid in its proper curvature by a flange 31 which may be welded to the curved plate forming the separable member M. The supporting and pivoting plates [6 are Welded to the separable members or plates l4 along the length of these plates approximately from the flange 31 to the bottom of the plates [4. This not only braces the separable members M in a vertical direction but also aids in extending the rigidity of curvature imparted by the flange 31 throughout the area of the plates I4.

As seen best in dotted lines in Fig. 2, the plates M are designed to rest on the top of the fixed stack [2. Of course, it will not be commercially practicable to obtain a perfect abutment of these members. Therefore, to seal the joints between the plates 14 and the stack l2 a sealing ring 38 is provided, being welded to the plates 14 and telescoping over the stack l2. A bead 39 is preferably provided on stack l2 and serves not only to further seal the joint between the stack l2 and the plates [4 but also reinforces the stack.

If because of the design of the locomotive and the dimensions of the stack it should be desirable to locate either shaft l1 slightly below the top of the main body of the locomotive, this can readily be accomplished by in effect countersinking the shaft within the body of the locomotive, i. e. within the smoke arch formed by this portion of the locomotive. It is merely necessary to cut a slot at the proper point, fit a channel-shaped member into the slot with its open side up, and seal the slot by welding its edges to the channel-shaped member.

From the foregoing it is seen that there is provided. by this invention a smoke elevator which normally serves as an extension for the smoke stack to raise the smoke high enough so that it will not bother the enginemen and which cannevertheless be lowered easily to -a position at which it does not materially increase the height of the locomotive above the permanently positioned portions of the locomotive. Furthermore, in the active position of the smoke elevator its parts are suificiently sealed together and to the stack so that the amount of leakage between them is not objectionable. In addition, the structure is exceedingly simple, is counterbalancd to make operation easy, and does not require any latching means for holding the elevator in its active position or in its lowered position.

Another important advantage of the illustrated form of the structure is that the smoke elevator is mounted independently of the stack so that the stack, which wears quite rapidly, may be renewed without disturbing the smoke elevator or any of its parts.

We. claim:

1. A locomotive including a generally vertical smoke stack and a smoke stack extension including two semi-cylindrical members adapted to fit together and to fit the top of the smoke stack to form a cylindrical extension thereof and each pivoted to the locomotive and movable to a lower position to lie below a level approximately at the top of the smoke stack.

2. A locomotive including a generally vertical smoke stack and a smoke stack extension including two semi-cylindrical members adapted to fit together and to fit the top of the smoke stack to form a cylindrical extension thereof and each pivoted to the locomotive andzmovable to a lower position. to lie below a levelapproximatelyat the top of the smoke stack, the two portions of the extension being linked together to operate in unison and being provided with manual operating meansextending into the cab of the locomotive. v

3. A locomotive comprising a generallyvertical smoke stack. and a smoke elevator including two separable members fitting together and fitting .the top of the smoke stack to form an extension thereof having its outlet substantially above the top of.thelstack, support arms secured to the separable members and pivotally supported by .thelocomotive at a. point remote from the. top of the stack, the separablemembers being movable with the arms from a positionforming an extension of the smoke stack to a lower position in .which they are approximately. as low as the top of the smoke stack.

4. A locomotive including generally vertical smokev stack and a smoke stack extension including two separable members adapted to fit together and to fit the top of the smoke stack to form an extension thereof having its outlet substantially above the top of the stack, and each pivoted to the locomotive and movable to a lower position to lie below a level approximately at the top of the smoke stack.

5.. A locomotive including a generally vertical smoke stack and a smoke stack extension including two separable members adapted to fit together and to fit the top of the smoke stack to form an extension thereof having its outlet substantially above the top of the stack, and each pivoted to the locomotive and movable to a lower position to lie below a level approximately at the top of the smoke stack, means linking the two separable members together to operate in unison, and means counterbalancing the separable members.

6. A locomotive including a generally vertical smoke stack and a smoke stack extension including two separable members adapted to fit together and to fit the top of the smoke stack, and each pivoted to the locomotive and movable to a lower position to lie below a level approximately at the top of the smoke stack, each of the separable members including a curved plate, a reinforcing flange extending along the curvature of the plate, and a combined reinforcing and support member secured to the plate at an angle to the flange.

7. A locomotive including a generally vertical smoke stack and a smoke stack extension including two separable members adapted to fit together and to fit the top of the smoke stack to form an extension thereof having its outlet substantially above the top of the stack, and each pivoted to the locomotive and movable to a lower position to lie below a level approximately at the top of the smoke stack, the separable members being in approximately abutting relationship when in the stack-extending position, and a combined guide and seal extending along the joint between the separable members, secured to one of the members and flared sufiiciently to guide the other of the members into alignment therewith.

8. A locomotive including a generally vertical smoke stack and a smoke stack extension including two separable members adapted to fit together and to fit the top of the smoke stack, and each pivoted to the locomotive and movable to a lower position to lie below a level approximately at the top of the smoke stack, the separable members being in approximately abutting relationship when in the stack-extending position, and a combined guide and seal extending along the joint between the separable members, secured to one of the members and flared sufiiciently to guide the other of the members into alignment therewith, the mating portions between the separable members and the stack including portions which approximately abut together and a telescoping portion which serves to guide the movement of the parts and seal any crack between them.

9. A locomotive including a generally vertical smoke stack and a smoke stack extension including two separable members adapted to fit together and to fit the top of the smoke stack to form an extension thereof having its outlet substantially above the top of the stack, and each pivoted to the locomotive and movable to a lower position to lie below a level approximately at the top of the smoke stack, the separable members each being pivoted at such a point that in their lowered position their weight holds them down and while in their raised position their weight holds them in their raised position.

10. A locomotive including a generally vertical smoke stack and a smoke stack extension including two separable members adapted to fit together and to fit the top of the smoke stack, and each pivoted to the locomotive and movable to a lower position to lie below a level approximately at the top of the smoke stack, the separable members each being pivoted at such a point that in their lowered position their weight holds them down and while in their raised position their weight holds them in their raised position, and the separable members being movable from their raised position in substantially opposite directions and being of similar but reversed shapes whereby they will be substantially unaffected by wind pressure.

11. A locomotive including a generally vertical smoke stack and a smoke elevator including means forming an extension for the smoke stack and separable from the smoke stack generally along a predetermined plane of clev-age, said means being pivoted to swing away from the stack, the pivotal axis being located at such position that a line extending from the pivotal axis perpendicular to the plane of clevage will intersect said plane at a point outside of the stack and spaced from the stack in a direction toward which saidmeans swings, and said axis being further located sufficiently low so that said means when swung away from the stack will be lowered to be positioned below a level approximately at the top of the stack.

CHARLES RODERICK FALCONER. GUSTAV HUGO KOESTER. 

